The due manner of prayer, wherein it doth consist.
The Holy Spirit having given the mind a due apprehension of the things we ought to pray for, or furnished it with the matter of prayer, he moreover works a due sense and valuation of them, with desires after them, upon the will and affections; wherein the due manner of it doth consist. These things are separable. The mind may have light to discern the things that are to be prayed for, and yet the will and affections be dead unto them or unconcerned in them; and there may be a gift of prayer founded hereon, in whose exercise the soul doth not spiritually act towards God, for light is the matter of all common gifts. And by virtue of a perishing illumination, a man may attain a gift in prayer which may be of use unto the edification of others; for “the manifestation of the Spirit is given unto every man to profit withal.” In the meantime, it is with him that so prayeth not much otherwise than it was with him of old who prayed in an unknown tongue: “his spirit prayeth, but his understanding is unfruitful.” He prayeth by virtue of the light and gift that he hath received, but his own soul is not benefited nor improved thereby. Only sometimes God makes use of men’s own gifts to convey grace into their own souls; but prayer, properly so called, is the obediential acting of the whole soul towards God.
Wherefore, first, where the Holy Spirit completes his work in us as a Spirit of grace and supplication, he worketh on the will and affections to act obedientially towards God in and about the matter of our prayers. Thus when he is poured out as a Spirit of supplication, he fills them unto whom he is communicated with mourning and godly sorrow, to be exercised in their prayers as the matter doth require, Zech. xii. 10. He doth not only enable them to pray, but worketh affections in them suitable unto what they pray about. And in this work of the Spirit lies the fountain of that inexpressible fervency and delight, of those enlarged labourings of mind and desires, which are in the prayers of believers, especially when they are under the power of more than ordinary influences from him: for these things proceed from the work of the Spirit on their wills and affections, stirring them up and carrying them forth unto God, in and by the matter of their prayers, in such a manner as no vehement working of natural affections can reach unto; and therefore is the Spirit said to “make intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered,” Rom. viii. 26, 27, ὑπερεντυγχάνει. As he had before expressed his work in general by συναντιλαμβάνεται, which intendeth a help by working, carrying us on in our undertaking in this duty beyond our own strength (for he helpeth us on under our infirmities or weaknesses), so his especial acting is here declared by ὑπερεντυγχάνει, that is, an additional interposition, like that of an advocate for his client, pleading that in his case which he of himself is not able to do. Once this word is used in the service of a contrary design. Speaking of the prayer of Elijah, the apostle says, Ὡς ἐντυγχάνει τῷ Θεῷ κατὰ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· — “How he maketh intercession to God against Israel,” Rom. xi. 2; as בָּשַׂר, which is constantly used in the Old Testament for “to declare good tidings, tidings of peace,” is once applied in a contrary signification unto tidings of evil and destruction, 1 Sam. iv. 17. The man that brought the news of the destruction of the army of the Israelites and the taking of the ark by the Philistines is called הַמְבַשֵּׂר. But the proper use of this word is to intercede for grace and favour; and this he doth στεναγμοῖς ἀλαλήτοις. We ourselves are said στενάζειν, to “groan,” Rom. viii. 23; that is, humbly, mournfully, and earnestly to desire. And here the Spirit is said to “intercede for us with groanings;” which can be nothing but his working in us and acting by us that frame of heart and those fervent, labouring desires, which are so expressed, and these with such depth of intension and labouring of mind as cannot be uttered. And this he doth by the work now mentioned.
Secondly, Having truly affected the whole soul, enlightened the mind in the perception of the truth, beauty, and excellency of spiritual things, engaged the will in the choice of them and prevalent love unto them, excited the affections to delight in them and unto desires after them, there is in the actual discharge of this duty of prayer, wrought in the soul by the power and efficacy of his grace, such an inward labouring of heart and spirit, such a holy, supernatural desire and endeavour after a union with the things prayed for in the enjoyment of them, as no words can utter or expressly declare, — that is, fully and completely, — which is the sense of the place.
To avoid the force of this testimony, some (one at least) would have this intercession of the Spirit to be the intercession of the Spirit in Christ for us now at the right hand of God; so that no work of the Spirit itself in believers is intended. Such irrational evasions will men sometimes make use of to escape the convincing power of light and truth; for this is such a description of the intercession of Christ at the right hand of God as will scarcely be reconciled unto the analogy of faith. That it is not an humble, oral supplication, but a blessed representation of his oblation, whereby the efficacy of it is continued and applied unto all the particular occasions of the church or believers, I have elsewhere declared, and it is the common faith of Christians. But here it should be reported as the labouring of the Spirit in him with unutterable groans; the highest expression of an humble, burdened, solicitous endeavour. Nothing is more unsuited unto the present glorious condition of the Mediator. It is true that “in the days of his flesh” he prayed “with strong crying and tears,” in an humble deprecation of evil, Heb. v. 7; but an humble prostration and praying with unutterable groans is altogether inconsistent with his present state of glory, his fullness of power, and fight to dispense all the grace and mercy of the kingdom of God. Besides, this exposition is as adverse to the context as any thing that could be invented. Rom. viii. 15, it is said that we “receive the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father;” which Spirit “God sends forth into our hearts,” Gal. iv. 6. And the blessed work of this Spirit in us is farther described, Rom. viii. 16, 17. And thereon, verse 23, having received “the first-fruits of this Spirit,” we are said to “groan within ourselves;” to which it is added, that of ourselves not knowing what we ought to pray for, αὐτὸ τὸ Πνεῦμα, “that very Spirit,” so given unto us, so received by us, so working in us, “maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Wherefore, without offering violence unto the context, there is no place for the introduction of the intercession of Christ in heaven, especially under such an expression as is contrary to the nature of it. It is mentioned afterward by the apostle, in its proper place, as a consequent and fruit of his death and resurrection, verse 34. And there he is said simply ἐντυγχάνειν· but the Spirit here is said ὑπερεντυγχάνειν, which implies an additional supply unto what is in ourselves.